ST. GEORGE – One way to make a coach happy, whether in tee ball or the major leagues, is to hustle down to first base.

When the Red Storm’s Andrew Smith stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom of the 10th inning, for just his sixth plate appearance all year, he may have had bigger plans, but a charge down the first base line after a dropped third strike prolonged Game 1 of Dixie State’s doubleheader with Hawaii Pacific.

With runners on the corners, Yuto Kata hit an opposite-field single to drive in the winning run of an 8-7 win over the Sea Warriors — their eighth win in a row.

Six and a half innings later, Red Storm closer Evan Parker notched a one-out save, his 10th and the single-season record for Dixie State as a Division II school, finalizing a 6-3 Game 2 win and another series sweep.

“We (didn’t) have that walkoff win yet this year,” said DSU head coach Chris Pfatenhauer. “We haven’t had our backs against the wall, fighting in a game yet, so that was good. We needed that.”

Dixie State (14-2, 20-11) opened up Game 1 with three runs in the first inning. Drew McLaughlin earned a leadoff walk, and with a hit-and-run in motion, McLaughlin drew HPU shortstop Tyler Tokunga to second, while Kata’s single blitzed through the gap. Trey Kamachi got the first RBI on a fielder’s choice. Tyler Blair knocked an RBI single, and Kamachi found home on a wild pitch.

The Sea Warriors (8-8, 14-14) crept up and tied the game in the top of the sixth, but the Storm recovered in the bottom of the seventh, as they rallied on the HPU reliever Brent Daugherty. The reliever started things off with his first pitch hitting Ty Johnson. Before Dalton Gust dropped a bunt single, Donald Glover who’d singled earlier scored on a throwing error. Then McLaughlin and Kata followed up with back-to-back sacrifice RBI.

The Red Storm were cruising, and a solo shot from Kris Kaplan seemed to have the game all but wrapped. But in the top of the ninth, things fell apart.

With one out, Codey Ellenwood singled for his third hit of the day (single, double and triple), which led to Pfatenhauer going to Parker from the pen. But after recording two saves the day before, Parker came out and didn’t look like Parker.

“I wasn’t on my game in the first (game), and I was a little bit sluggish from, I think, from appearing twice yesterday,” said Parker, who gave up four runs, two charged to Kevin Dorantes.

Parker gave up a double and two RBI singles before getting the third out of the inning and making a B-line for the dugout.

“I came in punched the door, went in the locker room, just kind of cooled off,” said Parker. “For me to have that feeling of my teammates maybe thinking I let them down is the thing that just eats at me.”

In the 10th, Smith dug in to the box and fell behind 1-2.

“I took a couple hard swings and it just didn’t happen,” said Smith, who swung hard a third time, but missed the ball.

Luckily, so did HPU catcher Keanu Kapana. And with Glover charging to third from second, Kapana opted to pick up the dropped third strike and fire it to third. Glover was safe, and Smith legged it out to first.

“I was pretty upset that I missed it, but I looked back and saw the umpire extending his arms outward saying safe,” said Smith. “I know the one thing I can do on this team is run, so I made sure I ran.”

Smith reaching base set up Kata for the walk off single. Kata singled off the third baseman’s glove. And while he lay face down in the dirt, Glover crossed home, and the dugout emptied to chase Kata rounding first.

“Usually I swing at first pitch I see, first strike I see, but he threw two balls in a row,” said Kata, who finished 2 of 5 with two RBI. “I got a good pitch to swing on, and I swung as hard as I could.”

Game 2 started in a similar fashion as the game before. The Red Storm struck first, picking up two runs in the opening frame. McLaughlin sent his first round-tripper of the season out of left field, giving starter Kody Christoffersen a little breathing room.

But again, like the game before, trouble started brewing in the top of the seventh, what was slated to be the last inning of the game. The Red Storm lead of four was chipped away to three. Then Mitchell Franek gave up back-to-back singles.

With two outs, Pfatenhauer turned once again to Parker. This time the closer used four pitches to strike out the final batter of the ball game and set the mark for the most saves in a season.

“I think redeeming myself was the biggest thing — to show these guys that I wanted the ball,” said Parker. “I would have started the ninth up four, if Pfate asked me to.”

Matt Hill picked up the win in Game 1, and Kody Christoffersen got the W in Game 2.

@G_Faylor

VIDEO

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To see highlights from the Dixie State baseball doubleheader, go to thespectrum.com.